


With Autumn Closing In

by bagheerita



Series: Collected Tales of the OOOT-verse [8]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Canon Divergence - Avengers (2012), Gen, M/M, Mortality, Norse mythology with airquotes, Quests, saccharine like whoa
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-26
Updated: 2019-09-26
Packaged: 2020-10-28 04:17:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,589
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20772401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bagheerita/pseuds/bagheerita
Summary: Loki and Thor search for a way to lengthen Tony's life.





	With Autumn Closing In

**Author's Note:**

> So, I wrote this in 2015 but I couldn't post it until the end of the series, obviously. I'd always meant to go back and shine it up a bit before posting, after some of the things I mention here actually show up or get contradicted in the MCU, but I've lost my passion for this fandom so you're going to get what you get.  
**Series note:** This is set in Delta-universe, so just a reminder that canon diverges from the first _Avengers_. Mild spoilers for "Your Prison Is Walking Through This World All Alone." (It might be more accurate to say that if you're confused as to why Thor is only 15 years old, you should probably go read "Your Prison Is Walking Through This World All Alone" first.) And like, a minor reference is made to the climax of "One and One and One is Three" which isn't really spoilery but could be confusing if you're not familiar.

**Location:** Universe YOSLY, Designation: Delta  
Casablanca, Morocco  
Stark Tower  
(13 years post anomaly)

It's not the first grey hair, not by a long shot.

But Tony is feeling creaky, his fingers not as nimble as he remembers them being, an aching in the scar tissue in his chest where the arc reactor used to be. He's just angry that he doesn't _feel _young anymore and, as he's getting dressed that morning, he makes some stupid joke about how Loki is older than him but Tony still gets to play the silver fox in this relationship. He hopes for something reassuring in response, though what he actually _expects_ is a cutting comment- which would be a reassurance in its own way. But Loki just looks at him; it's that weird sort of evaluative look that Loki used to throw him a lot early on but which Tony hasn't seen in a long while.

Tony is busy all day, with one thing and another, and he only realizes late that night that he hasn't seen Loki all day. He's standing in his empty bedroom. It feels emptier than it usually does, and Tony thinks he's done it.

He's finally found what will drive Loki away.

* * *

Wakanda

"You're being stupid, you know."

Loki glares down at Thor from his perch on the second-story walkway. "This was your idea in the first place."

Thor snorts. He's sitting on the floor of the library, below Loki's feet. His arms and legs, still waiting for his body to grow into them, are folded awkwardly around him. His hair is shaved to an inch-long length that he has spiked out from his head and bleached to an eye-burning shade of platinum. He's going through a rebellious phase and the hair is specifically designed to piss off Odin. "You should just ask her. She would give you anything. Even the old man's gone a bit soft." Thor affects an expression of wisdom beyond his years. "I think he's glad you've been able to keep me out of trouble."

Loki laughs. "You mean I've been able to hide the trouble you get into from his sight. When it happens away from Asgard."

Thor rolls his eyes. "Yeah, whatever. So, why don't you ask her?"

"Frigga cannot give me what I seek," Loki says absently, his attention returning to the volume of text in his hand. It is ancient and the edges of the pages fray into dust even with how carefully he turns them.

"You mean she can't give you the apples," Thor reminds him. "But that can't be the only way to get what you want."

"I'm well aware." Loki turns another delicate page slowly, and grits out, "What do you think I am looking for? T'Challa possesses some of the rarest volumes in the galaxy concerning such arts. I should know; I stole many of them for him." Being annoyed with Thor is a pointless occupation, but it is only the extreme age and rarity of the volume he holds that prevents Loki from throwing it at his brother's head and his intense concentration upon it that stops him from finding something more worthy to be thrown.

"Yeah, but, I mean, wouldn't Frigga know more than some ancient book? She knows a lot."

It is spoken with the sure and ready confidence of youth, and of boys concerning the greatness and power of their mothers, but Loki lowers the book long enough to look at his brother. "That... is actually a fair point."

Thor grins. "I know, I'm awesome, you don't have to say it. Can we get lunch before we take the Bifrost? I'm starving."

Loki sighs and returns to his book. "Go feed yourself, I'm not done with this volume. We will travel to Asgard later; this evening perhaps."

* * *

Asgard

Thor and Loki stand before Idunn's orchard. "You should at least ask her."

"She will say no. It is a waste of time. And it will likely anger the lady."

"She can't be angry with us for asking."

Loki gives Thor a look of fond exasperation. "She can, brother. Not everyone here has as short a memory as you."

Thor waves a hand dismissively. "Fine, I'll ask her."

Thor marches off toward the orchard. The apples hang heavy from the trees, and Loki fights the impulse to walk over and pluck one. The gift must be given, or else it will be a curse. Loki folds his arms and waits for Thor in annoyance.

Thor returns, looking perplexed. "She says _you _have to ask," he reports.

Loki narrows his eyes. "So she can deny me to my face?" But Thor has that stubborn look about him, and Loki knows it'll be easier to just give in. "Odin has softened in his attitudes because I have cursed myself with suffering your adolescence twice and there is nothing worse he can come up with. Idunn is not so gracious."

Thor makes a rude noise and shoves him toward the orchard.

Idunn is sitting on an overturned bucket beneath one of the near trees. She is turning an apple over and over in her hands. She does not look up as he approaches.

Being put in a position where he _must_ suffer her denial, which he fancies will be mocking, is not where he wants to be. But Loki is not called silver-tongued for sport. "Good morrow Lady Idunn. May your labors continue fruitful, and your beauty ever grow finer."

She cracks a smile. "Loki," she says. "The one who is called Sky Traveler and Lie Smith. What skies have you traveled to flatter me so?"

"I have come this day from Midgard, but I have seen all the skies of all the Realms, and none of them are as sweet nor as prized as the fruit which lies in your care."

"Ah, we come to the reason for your visit."

"I thought Thor had already betrayed our purpose in seeking you this day."

She shakes her head and she finally looks up from the apple in her hand to meet his eyes. Hers are grey as stormclouds and they watch him uneasily. "Tell me what brings you to my orchard."

"Time," he says. "And the need for more of it."

Idunn nods. "A wiser answer than most, though I expected such silvered words." She looks down at the apple again, as if from its glossy rind she need divine the answer she will give him.

There is silence between them for a long stretch of moments. Loki refuses to be the one to speak first. ...But he slowly realizes that he is the one whose hours are better numbered elsewhere. He shifts his weight.

"Go and speak with Frigga," Idunn says, as if responding to something he has said, as if she hadn't just spent an unknowable amount of time staring at the apple in her hand without speaking. "When you have a better understanding of what you seek, I may have something for you."

Loki grits his teeth, when suddenly Idunn tosses him the apple she is holding. Loki catches it in his hands almost reverently, but he looks to her before he allows himself to hope.

"Give that to your brother," she says. "He's going to need it."

Loki wants to crush the apple to pulp between his fingers and throw it back at her rather than give it to _Thor_, but he smiles and bows to her. "My thanks, Lady." He turns and walks back to Thor, who paces restlessly at the edge of the orchard, tossing small stones at leaves on the trees, laughing when he knocks a leaf to the ground. He looks up, and Loki flings the apple at him with excessive force. Thor catches it, curious. "For you," Loki says. "From Idunn."

Thor frowns. "But that's not..."

"Shut up and eat it before I strangle you," Loki says as he stalks up the path, back toward the palace.

Mercifully, Thor remains silent as he follows.

The queen is waiting for them, and she greets them warmly. She doesn't ask why they have come but hugs them close and fusses over them, and only then asks after the events of their day. Loki usually regales her with his and Tony's latest tales of mischief, or of Thor's adventures in trying the patience of every creature in existence- all of these, things which Odin cannot spy from his throne; hiding himself from Odin's and Heimdall's eyes was one of the first tricks Loki taught himself. But today, Thor speaks first. "We are in search of immortality for Tony," he says boldly.

Loki rolls his eyes and doesn't correct the statement. He's certain Frigga knows him better.

"Ah," she says, her voice low and thoughtful. "A noble quest. Though not simple."

Thor nods. "We came to see what light you could offer, Mother. I know Idunn's apples will gift greater life to those to whom she will grant them, but..." He hesitates, though only for a moment. "She seems unwilling to grant them for Tony."

Frigga looks slightly scandalized. "You didn't _ask_ did you?"

Loki glares at Thor. "He insisted."

Thor looks abashed. "It was my mistake," he says hurriedly. "Please, Mother. Tell me how I may aid Loki in this task and pay back my blunder."

She hmms softly. "I can think of many stories of immortality," she says slowly, "but none that will help you gain it for Tony. He is exceptional, for a mortal, but... still mortal. The waters of the Well would destroy him, and the secrets of the Norns would do no better. Idunn's apples might gain you some short time, but outside of Asgard their influence is very limited; you would gain decades, only."

Thor looks devastated. Loki knew the answer before she gave it voice. It cools and hardens something in his chest to hear it spoken, but he knew. It was a fool's errand. "Such is what I have learned in my studies on the subject. Sorry to have wasted your time, Mother."

Frigga gives him a sad half-smile. "No time spent with my boys is wasted."

Loki takes her hand and bends over it, but something catches him in that moment and he halts. _Time_... He looks at Thor. "I have an idea."

Thor returns his glance with an expression of eagerness. "Yes?" he asks, ready for anything, and Loki believes him. Thor was never much of a dissembler, and last time it took him much longer than fifteen years to learn to be wary when it came to Loki's ideas.

Frigga's fingers close around Loki's. "Time," she says. "of course." He can tell she wants to tell him not to do it, but instead she rises from her seat. "Come with me."

She leads them into her chamber and draws forth rare treasures from her shelves. "I believe Taneleer Tivan will be your best chance. If he does not have it, it is likely he will know where it is or where you could look next. He is a difficult customer if you are buying rather than selling, but I have faith in your ability to talk him round. And, if you have something worth trading, he can be reasonable." She opens a silk bag and shows Loki its contents.

Loki inhales sharply. "No, Mother, we can't-"

She glares at him. "It is my choice." Loki bows his head and she continues. "You can probably find him at his family's mine at Nowhere." She opens a map orb and draws lines upon it before pausing. "You know, you might try Alfheim. Their library is vast and ever growing." She says this as if Loki doesn't already know. "I know it would be easier for you to travel within Yggdrasil." She draws another line on the map before pausing again. "Eitri, also, might prove to have information that would be useful to you." She passes Loki the ring from her right hand; Loki slips it on his own finger and accepts the bag she presses into his hands.

"Thank you, Mother," he says, and doesn't tell her that he planned all along to start with the horse's mouth.

* * *

Sanctuary  
(Thanos' domain)

"This part was _your_ idea," Thor grunts. He is bleeding from a gash above his eyebrow and he pauses a moment to wrap the length of cloth in his hand- Loki's pretty sure it's the remains of his sleeve- tightly around his forehead to keep the blood out of his eyes. He pays no mind to the dozens of cuts that litter the rest of his body and he calls Mjolnir from where it sits a few feet away, flinging the hammer again through the attacking horde, destroying as many as he can. It makes little difference.

"Yes," Loki allows. One of the creatures struck him in the shoulder and while he can feel the blood trickling down his back, he can't feel his left arm. "But it's _your _fault sneaking up on them didn't work. Now give me a moment." He manages to turn a controlled fall into a seated position, his arms in his lap. He takes a deep breath, ignoring the way it wheezes through his abused lungs, and reaches into his hidden cache for the Mind Stone.

"Loki." Thor's hand is hesitant but determined on his uninjured shoulder, his fingers gripping hard. "Be careful."

Loki releases the breath he was holding. Thor is right to be cautious. Loki is fairly certain he can't actually control the focus of the Mind Stone without the balance Phoenix left him. Though he is not here, Thanos is probably near enough to scent the Stone the moment Loki touches it- a mere speck of blood in the water of the universe, easily spotted by that ravenous shark. Using it to catch the minds of their attackers will not be beneficial if he loses all of them, and himself, to Thanos. Instead of the Mind Stone, he reaches for something else.

"Thor, get down," Loki growls as he pulls forth the Casket of Ancient Winters. He turns the awesome power upon their attackers, and the army of drones is frozen, solid, within moments.

Thor is curled up in a ball at Loki's feet. After he feels the wash of power pass over him, he pops up and surveys the damage with glee. "Wicked," he pronounces.

Loki sighs. "I knew I would regret letting Darcy babysit."

Thor laughs, bounding to his feet. "Come, let's see if they have what we seek!" He grabs at Loki's elbow, pulling him after.

Loki flinches away from the touch. He still forgets sometimes that Thor doesn't remember that he should hesitate, that he's supposed to be fearful when greeted by cool blue skin and red eyes; Loki forgets that a Thor raised half on Earth, and in full knowledge of Loki's heritage, no longer has Asgard's prejudices. So, it takes him a moment before he lets Thor's grip pull him along. A moment in which he replaces the Casket to where it belongs, but he doesn't bother to waste energy reaching for his pale skin. He doesn't need it here.

Thor is still a few steps ahead of him when they reach Thanos' cache, and Mjolnir breaks it open before Loki can urge caution. He's almost too excited to remember that they should be cautious, so he peers eagerly in and doesn't chastise Thor.

There are two items in the cache beneath Thanos' throne. One is red and moves like liquid. The other is a sickly orange and hums with a dark hunger that is power even Thor can feel. "It's not there, is it?" Thor says. He tries to contain his disappointment.

"No. But that is a good thing."

"How so? Now we do not know where to search next."

"Because if we had to steal it from Thanos he would know where to come to get it back," Loki explains patiently. "Now, stand guard a moment while I cast these far from here." He is tired and battered, but he draws on the power of Yggdrasil and throws the stones out into the void. It doesn't matter so much where they go so long as it is far away, from here and from anywhere that Loki plans to be in the future, and from each other. The Stones call to each other, but they also repulse, and it is easy enough to cast them far apart. Loki can only hope they catch the fancy of a Shi'ar or some such, who will take them to a far distant world for a long time. He looks up at Thor, standing over him, alert, Mjolnir at the ready. "I am finished."

Thor nods, taking Loki's arm easily as he whirls Mjolnir above them and returns them to the opening of the path by which Loki had brought them to this place. "We return to the quest, then."

* * *

Nidavellir

It's been weeks, and they are no closer to finding it.

"Why not seek Taneleer Tivan?" Thor asks. "He has access to much information. He may even have what we seek, among his collections."

Loki shakes his head. "Mother is correct in that it will cost much to prize what we seek from his grasp if that is where it lies. He is a collector- _The _Collector, as it were. He will not part with what he has without sufficient incentive, and to see that ravenous magpie with Mother's necklace is something I refuse to contemplate." Loki frowns in thought. "It might take me all the time I have to spare, but I could steal it from him. Though that is useless speculation if he doesn't in fact have it."

"We could _ask_ him," Thor points out.

Loki grins. "So straightforward. He may give us information if he does not possess the object already, but likely only if we promise to bring it to him in the end. And one who sells information will sell it to any who wish to purchase. It's bad enough Thanos knows someone robbed him. If anyone else hears what we are seeking, Thanos will learn what he knows to seek his own information."

Thor looks doubtful. "And you think Eitri won't speak of it?" he asks.

"Eitri is sworn to Asgard, but more than that he is a pragmatist," Loki says matter-of-factly. "He will give nothing to Thanos."

"He doesn't like me," Thor murmurs as he follows Loki.

Loki pauses. In this rare moment, Thor sounds _young_, and Loki s struck forcefully by the memory of fifteen years ago, when Thor bled out in his arms. He turns to his brother and catches his shoulder. "Thor, do not be so concerned with the opinions of others." Thor schools his expression and nods fiercely. Loki sighs and lays his arm across both Thor's shoulders, pulling him closer. "Not everyone in this universe is going to like you, you idiot. True worth is found in being satisfied with yourself." He remembers Frigga saying something similar, in an ancient day that must have been his own childhood. "Be the man you believe to be worthy of your respect."

Thor smiles up at him. "Yes, Loki." He seems eager, pleased, and it is a thing Loki never quite gets used to- Thor not just gullible but young, impressionable, and looking up to him. Before, Thor was conscientious of him but always too mindful of his own position to allow himself to visibly seek Loki's counsel. And both of them were always too mindful of Odin to honestly gift each other with good advice: Odin assured them they were both kings; there was only one throne.

They move into the dwarven realm, and eventually find Eitri at his forge. He certainly doesn't allow himself to be called away from his work by the presence of the Lie Smith, but Frigga's ring commands he grant them his attention at the least.

"What do you want?" Eitri frowns.

"Do you know where we can find the last of the Infinity Stones?" Thor demands. Loki rolls his eyes and sighs.

But Eitri respects a direct manner, even from one who allowed his prize creation to be wielded by a _mortal_ of all things, and he answers gruffly, "Of course not. No one knows what can't be known."

Thor glares at him, and twirls Mjolnir just to be an ass- Loki grins- and finally says, "Well then, if you have nothing of any use to tell us, we will be leaving."

Eitri looks like he wants to see what kind of a dent his forge hammer can make in Thor's skull, but he only roars, "Be gone with you, and curse you for interrupting my work!"

While they make their way back to the Bifrost site, Thor says, "I'm sorry."

"What for?"

Thor kicks the ground. "I messed it up. We didn't find it. We didn't complete the quest."

But Loki's been turning over Idunn's words that she spoke in the orchard, and he says, "I have an idea."

Thor is wary enough now after the last weeks that he gives Loki a measured look. But Thor is fine. There's hardly a scratch on him, though Loki still feels the hollow echo of pain in his shoulder where Thanos' creature tried to bisect him, and Loki gets the feeling that Idunn has been helping him from the beginning. "You were right," he says to Thor, who perks up at the rare words. "Idunn may have a shorter memory than I gave her credit for."

* * *

Asgard

Idunn is working in the orchard when they return, selecting apples from the trees and placing them gently in the bushel basket she holds. Loki and Thor walk toward her and she turns to face them. She sets the basket at her feet before reaching into it and tossing Loki an apple.

He holds it for a moment, waiting, breathing, hoping. But he is hunting larger prey now, and he bites into the apple, devouring it in moments.

Idunn tosses one to Thor as well. She frowns. "What are they feeding you on Midgard, boy? You're nothing but bones." He colors and eats the apple, watching Loki silently.

Loki takes his time, licking the juice from his fingers. "Lady Idunn, I wondered if I might place a question to you."

"You," she says, the word without inflection. "You have no respect, not for life nor for order. You disrupt everything that does not conform with the plans you seek to fulfill. You kill thousands, and yet you steal from death those whose time has come."

Loki's eyes narrow. He wants to claw her eyes out, the self-righteous bitch. In this moment he _knows_ she has it; she could have saved him and Thor the effort and pain of these last weeks- weeks that Loki does not have to waste. But now his breath catches in his throat suddenly; will she demand Thor's stolen life, in payment for what she offers? But she has been giving her apples to Thor, protecting him... and Loki realizes that of which she accuses him is what she herself feels. "It is true," Loki says easily then. "I steal what I can, when I have the power to do so."

She is looking at Thor, her expression fond. Thor is looking at Loki, confused. Idunn nods to Loki. "Ask."

Loki takes a breath. "Where can I find the last Infinity Stone? The Stone of Time."

She smiles, though the expression is bitter. "Would you use its power? To control time- past, present, future. Would you reverse time, change it, travel it, move its pieces around and dissolve the order of it to nothing? Would you use the Stone's power to trap your enemies, stuck repeating the same moments over and over eternally?"

It is tempting, to lock Thanos away in a time loop, so that he can no longer devote any part of the universe to his goddess. But... even these weeks of absence have torn wider the hole in Loki's heart. He hadn't even noticed it being there until Tony made his joke, a bit too much bitterness for there to be any humor in it, and Loki noticed the lines on his face, recognized the meaning behind the attractive silver in his hair. It was a hook in his flesh, the thought of Tony being taken from him, and it dragged against him, tearing wider and wider. He'd resolved himself to the loss, but it was too soon, he wasn't ready.

"No," Loki says. "I would make a gift of it."

Idunn's grin is beyond her ability to hide from him, and something warm and vicious rips through Loki upon seeing it; he answered her correctly it seems, and she will give him what he seeks, and he recognizes the warm feeling as hope.

"To whom would you gift such an object of power?"

Loki pauses. But lying to a seer in this matter would be foolish. "A mortal."

"A mortal cannot contain or control the power of the Stones," she reminds him. As if he needed the reminder.

"He is a most exceptional mortal," Loki says blandly. Idunn refrains from rolling her eyes. "He was given notes taken on the powers of the Space Stone- he did not even lay eyes upon the Stone itself, and he was able to create a device which harnesses the Stone's power. When he did lay eyes upon the Stone, that which he invented would take more time to list than I have to spare. He will not need to contain the Stone, Lady. He will reinvent it."

As the echo of his words dies away, Loki wonders if he was perhaps a bit too vehement. But there is a glint in Idunn's eyes as she regards him, and she nods. She turns to the tree behind her and reaches up to pluck an apple. She hands it to Loki. "Time is a powerful thing," she warns. "We are all bound by it. That is as it should be."

Loki can feel that power humming through the palms of his hands as he cups the apple between them. The skin of it is thick and waxy and dark, dark green, almost black. "Yes," he agrees. Time hidden in the seed of a plant- and here, on Asgard- seems the most delightful trick, he should have seen _that_ sooner. "But some should not be bound so tightly."

* * *

Casablanca, Morocco  
Stark Tower

It's been weeks since he's seen Loki, and Tony's penthouse doesn't feel any less empty. He's thought about going out and hooking up... But it feels false and hollow. So, he doesn't. He just sits in his armory, avoiding the communal lab space, and tinkers with his suits. There is a comfort in the familiar, and even more so in the cool and impassive mask of the suit. It expects nothing of him except the _everything_ that is in his mind. It is patient, and it doesn't ask for him to reason his way through the mess of emotion tearing through his head.

Tony hasn't said anything, but it's pretty obvious that Loki's AWOL from the Tower in a way he hasn't been for a long time. Tony's waiting for someone else to say something first, and he isn't surprised when Bruce gets nominated as spokesman.

They're sitting in the penthouse, looking out at the night-skyline of Casablanca. Bruce looks at him. "We're all adults here so I figure you can deal with whatever's going on yourself," he says baldly. "But the others are worried." He shrugs as if their opinions don't matter. "You know I'm your friend. Whatever you want to talk about, I'm here."

Tony sighs. He rattles the ice in the glass he holds but refrains from pouring himself another drink. "I'm old," he says finally.

Bruce looks at him.

"I mean, I think Loki finally realized it. I think maybe he was trying to forget, and I decided I wouldn't let him." He rattles the ice again and throws the glass at the table, not caring when it spins on its side, spilling its contents across the expensive wood. "We really never made promises. God knows I'm shit at keeping them. I don't blame him. I just didn't think..." He leans his head back. "I didn't think."

"You didn't think you'd miss him," Bruce says softly.

Tony grins, an empty, false gesture. "Almost twenty years. I guess that's more than most people get."

Bruce's eyes are knowing and compassionate. "It isn't enough."

"No," Tony agrees. "I don't want forever. But I'd have liked a bit longer to share with him. Before giving it up."

Lightning splits the sky, a crack of thunder following soon after. It looks like the lightning struck their building, but with the lightning rod on the roof that's not that uncommon. If it is Storm, or Thor, neither of them are people Tony really wants to talk to right now.

He turns away from the window and sighs. "Sorry to be such great company tonight."

Bruce smiles, that half non-smile that means _hey, life sucks, what're you gonna do?_, and says, "If I didn't like the company I'd leave."

They sit for another moment before the elevator dings and the doors open.

Tony looks up without any real energy, but tenses in his chair when he sees that it's, "Loki."

Bruce turns. Loki steps out of the elevator. He looks... rough, like he hasn't bothered sleeping in the time he's been away, but there is an energy that burns under his skin. It's a different sort of energy than Tony's familiar with, and his fingers are itching.

Tony is so absorbed in Loki that he doesn't even notice Thor is there until Thor ambush-hugs him. "Tony!" Thor cries. "We have found it!" He sounds so excited. Tony grunts as Thor's enthusiastic grip pops all the vertebrae along the entire length of his spine.

"Down, Thor." Loki chides him like an overenthusiastic puppy, and Thor steps back, clapping a hand on Tony's shoulder before he goes over to hug Bruce as well. Thor looks as rough as Loki does, but with the same wild, unearthly energy underneath.

Tony has no idea what's going on. Maybe he should try saying so, instead of standing there, slack jawed. "Where the hell have you been?" he demands. "I thought we talked about you disappearing like that." _Great, Tony_, he thinks, _pick a fight so no one sees how happy you are that he came back_.

Loki pauses, scanning Tony's face. "I'm sorry," he says, and Tony goes slack jawed again, sinking back into his seat. "I was... possessed of a great urgency, and I forgot." He whisks the tattered length of his cloak across Tony's lap in belated offering. The weight of it is thick and heavy and Tony buries his fingers in the pile of it. Loki kneels before him and sets something on top of the cloth. "I have brought you a gift."

Tony stares at it. It's an apple. He opens his mouth, then closes it. He narrows his eyes at Loki. There is such mischievous joy on Loki's face and Tony feels it burning through his own chest, a wild beating that cannot be contained. It's a puzzle, so he thinks about it. He can feel the energy, rippling out from the seemingly insignificant apple, washing through the heavy layers of the cloak and through him as well, pulling him toward it. He shivers. The feeling is familiar. "It's... an Infinity Stone?" he says in confusion. "A real one?"

Loki nods. "It is of this universe, and so retains all its power." He touches a finger to the apple's skin. "The apple is only the container. It is probably hidden as one of the seeds." He catches Tony's hand before Tony mirrors his gesture and touches the apple. "It is the Stone of Time. It will grant control over time."

Tony quirks a grin. "You really want to give me the ability to time travel?"

"And aging," Loki finishes. Tony's breath catches in his throat. "You will have to unlock its secrets, but I believe that will prove only a small obstacle. And once you do... time will no longer be the shackle it is upon your mind."

Tony's getting dizzy from not breathing. "Oh my god," he says, and his voice echoes strangely in his ears. "Loki." He doesn't have words for the emotion in his voice. He pulls Loki closer and kisses him. Loki is kissing him back; he seems pleased at Tony's reaction. "This is..." He's already thinking, equations running through his mind, but he takes a deep breath and cups Loki's face in his hands, quieting his mind, focusing it here. They lock eyes, Loki looking into him with just as much eagerness.

Loki moves to sit straddling him in the chair. He combs his fingers through Tony's hair. "I will not lose you to something so circumventable." There is a tightness in his jaw and Tony remembers that crazy day fifteen years ago: the pounding rain, Thor bleeding out on the ground, and Loki screaming defiance to the sky. Maybe he should have remembered sooner that Loki doesn't let go of what he wants to keep; not to death, not to anything.

"Yeah," is all Tony can say. He presses their foreheads together. "I'm not planning on going anywhere." He grins.

**Author's Note:**

> Soundtrack listing: "Night Moves" is written and performed by Bob Seger.  
Note: According to Wikipedia, the Time Gem: "Allows the user total control over the past, present and future. Allows time travel, can _age and de-age beings_ and also be used as a weapon by trapping enemies or entire universes in unending loops of time. Also at full potential grants Omniscience."


End file.
